Child&#39;s flashing toy



Nov. 15, 1960 H. K. JOHNSON CHILD'S FLASHING TOY Filed Dec. 27, 1957 \\\\\\\M\ law I] !l// Ill/ll Ill/ll Ill/Iliv/l/lll INVENTOR. M42040 Job M5011) 3Y ATTORNEY United States Patent Q 2,959,892 CHILDS FLASHING TOY Harold K. Johnson, 7644 Harriet Ave., Minneapolis, Minn.

Filed Dec. 27, 1957, Ser. No. 705,647

3 Claims. (Cl. 46-228) This invention relates to a toy of the type which is adapted to be shaken to amuse a baby or small child.

Numerous rattle-type toys have been proposed for the amusement of babies, most of such toyshaving a thin and hollow noise-producing bulb within which a clapper or other small and hard article may freelymove to strike the inside of the bulb. The bulb portion is often constructed so as to simulate animals or common objects for the additional amusement of the baby. Such devices, of course, must be held or viewed in external light by the baby to be effective in its purpose.

The present invention is directed to a device which has its-own light-producing mechanism and it is an important object of the invention to provide a toy which will flash a light only in response to shaking or reciprocating movement.

' Another object is to provide an inexpensive flashing toy which will be operable by hidden batteries and which will energize momentarily a light when vigorously shaken, but which will remain deenergized when moved slowly or permitted to remain at rest.

Another object of the invention is to provide a flashing toy which is energized by parts responding to momentum, said toy also being capable of producing intermittent noise by momentum of the same parts.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description, made in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure l is an elevational view of my device partially in vertical section and partially cut away to show the relationship of the components; and

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of Figure l, the movable portion being shown in full line at rest and in its contact-closing position in dotted line.

With continued reference to the drawing, my flashing toy is shown in elevation in Figure 1 and comprises a hollow housing H which, in turn, has a hollow bulb portion and a hollow handle 11 secured thereto in the relation shown. The handle 11 is of such dimension that a child may easily grasp it and the bulb 10 is enlarged so as to retain additional mechanism to be described.

In the form shown, the hollow handle is straight and tubular and constructed of material such as plastic which may be molded or extruded in accordance with well known practice. The lower end of the tubular handle 11 is threaded as at 12 so as to receive a threaded cap 13, as shown. Cap 13 is provided with an electrically conductive cup 14 secured to the cap 13 by means of a metallic rivet 15 which also provides an electrical contact button 16. The upper end of the tubular handle 11 is flared outwardly to form a shouldered base 17 terminating upwardly in a threaded annular flange 18.

Formed integrally with the handle 11, or as a separate member, is a tubular extension 19 with an annular "ice 1 base 20 secured with the depending tubular handle 11.

The annular base 20 may have an opening 21 formed therethrough, as shown in Figure 2, for the purpose of. permitting an electrically conductive strip 22 to pass therethrough. Strip 22 may be rivited to the tubular.

- handle 11 at 23 and lies in electrical contact with the may be inserted into the tubular handle '11 so that the lower-most terminal 29 of the series-mounted batteries 28 will contact portion 16 of the rivet 15 and the uppermost terminal 30' will contact the central terminal 31 of the incandescent lightbulb 27.

The hollow portion 10 of the device is transparent or translucent in character so as to be capable of transmitting light emitted from the incandescent lightbulb 27.- The lower edge of the hollow portion 10 may be threaded internally at 32 so that the housing may be attached and removed from the threaded portion 18 of the handle base 17.

Completing the circuit between the electrically conductive strip 22 and the threaded member 25 is a momentumoperated switch assembly indicated generally at 33 for momentarily closing the circuit and causing incandescent lightbulb 27 to flash in accordance therewith. The momentum-operated switch assembly 33 comprises an annular electrically conductive element 34 which may be resiliently mounted with respect to the base 17 by a plurality of spring members 35, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. For convenience, one of the spring members 35 may be mounted on the rivet 24 which secures the electrically conductive strip 22 at the base portion 17, thus rendering the metallic annular element 34 an electrical terminus. Each of the other of the springs 35 are mounted by a rivet 34 to the base 17, but need not provide additional electrical contact in the circuit.

Also forming a part of the momentum-operated switch assembly 33 is a conductive contact element 36 which may be formed with depending fingers 37, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the contact element also being capable of carrying an electrical current. The upper end of contact element 36 is formed inwardly at 38 to join with the threaded metallic portion 25.

Either or both the annular element 34 or the contact element 26 may have noise-producing character so as to provide a clapping or ringing noise whenever brought sharply into contact. It is understood that the momenturn'operated switch assembly may be arranged so that either the annular or contact elements are resiliently mounted, the result being the same if relative convergence is permitted under momentum of the parts.

The function of my invention will be easily understood from the foregoing. With the components of the device mounted as shown in Figure 1, a child may grasp the tubular handle 11 and vigorously shake the toy. The annular element 34 will move to the dotted line position of Figure 2 under momentum created by the shaking and thereby be caused to engage the contact element 30 at the depending finger portions 37. The electrical circuit will then be completed and the incandescent lightbulb 27 will flash as long as the annular element 34 remains in contact with the fingers 37. I have found that the duration of the flash can be extended somewhat if the annular ring 34 is relatively heavier in weight and the depending fingers 37 are constructed of spring material such as brass or steel.

Either or both of the annular element 34 and the contact element 36 may have noise-producing quality in addition to being electrically conductive and thus may be caused to ring' or clap whenever the toy is shaken, In such event, the noise will be concurrently timed with the flashing of the light. When moved only slightly or permitted to remain at rest, the momentum is insuflicient to close the gap between the contact and annular elements, and the circuit will not then be closed. The batteries 28 will thus function over a much greater period of time since they are never drained of electrical energy fo more than small portion of the time the toy is used.

It may thus be seen that I have devised a novel and amusing toy which will operate over long periods of time and which may be used in light or in darkness to amuse or preoccupy a young child.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A childs flashing toy comprising, a housing having a portion thereof capable of transmitting light, electric battery means having a pair of terminals disposed within said housing, an annular electrically conductive element resiliently mounted in the housing and connected to one of said battery terminals, a resilient contact element mounted within said annular element and normally in clearance therewith, said contact element being connected to the other of said battery terminals, an incandescent lightbulo interposed in the battery connection to one of said annular element and said contact element, one of said annular element and said contact element being relatively heavier than the other and capable of deflection under momentum upon shaking of the toy to mementarily touch and deflect the other and thereby close and hold an electric circuit through the incandescent bulb for the duration of deflection of both of said elements.

2. A childs flashing toy comprising, a housing having a portion thereof capable of transmitting light, an electric battery means having a pair of terminals disposed within said housing, a circuit within the housing and conmeeting said terminals, a continuous annular electrically conductive element disposed in said circuit, a plurality of springs mounted on said housing and connected to said annular electrically conductive element, a contact element having a plurality of resilient depending fingers mounted on the housing Within said annular electrically conductive element, said contact element also provided with an opening therethrough for receiving an electric bulb, said annular element and said contact element normally lying in circuit-interrupting relation but being relatively resilient in all directions under the influence of momentum to bring the elements into momentary engagement to close the circuit during said engagement, whereby said circuit closure causes said bulb to be lighted during duration of contact.

3. The structure set forth in claim 2, wherein at least one of said annular element and said contact element has noise-producing character and simultaneously produces audible sounds and flashes of light irrespective of the area of contact between said elements.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,891,493 Apostoloif Dec. 20, 1932 2,098,166 Rubenstein Nov. 2, 1937 2,484,159 Flynn Oct. 11, 1949 2,662,945 Cockram Dec. 15, 1953 2,705,267 LaRoza Mar. 29, 1955 

